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Nicholas Carrier examines samples of powder metal while running tests for his ongoing research project in a campus engineering lab.

Image: Steve Harmic

Campus engineering student to present research at international conference

Nicholas Carrier is one of only six students in the United States to receive this grant in 2014

Steve Harmic

March 17, 2014

Campus engineering student to present research at international conference

For the third year in a row, Penn State DuBois will send a student from the four-year General Engineering - Applied Materials program to an international powder metal (PM) conference. This year, Nicholas Carrier, of Brookville, Pa., is the hard-working senior who will attend the 2014 Powder Metallurgy World Congress May 18-22 in Orlando, Fla. He will make a presentation there on his current research project. Due to Carrier's hard work, he earned the Axel Madsen Conference Grant from the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), which will be used to help cover the cost of conference registration and travel expenses. He is one of only six students in the nation to receive the grant this year.

Carrier is conducting his research in conjunction with Leonid Frayman, the corporate manager of materials technology and development at Allegheny Coatings, a large powder metal manufacturing company in Ridgway, Pa. The project centers on the development of an additive to be used in powder metal material. The powder itself is hardened during the production process and turned into parts for such things as cars, household appliances, and more. The tools used to make the parts, naturally, undergo wear and tear during the manufacturing process. The additive Carrier is working on, an inorganic sealer, would increase the machinability of the PM parts, increasing corrosion resistance, and thereby increase the life of the tools. In the end, it could potentially save the PM industry millions of dollars in tooling each year.

"It's mostly designed to be used in stainless steel," Carrier said of the additive. "But it depends on what industries would want to pick it up and use it. Most likely it would be used in the automotive industry."

Confident in his work, Carrier is excited for the chance to present his research in front of the largest audience in the PM industry. He said, "It's a great award. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to be recognized. This isn't just a national conference, it's an international conference. A very large group of people."

This is the third year in a row Professor of Engineering Daudi Waryoba, and his colleague Craig Stringer, have sent one of their students off to the Powder Metallurgy World Congress, and it's a tradition Waryoba says he will be proud to continue.

"This is definitely a record we want to keep going; an international organization recognizing one of our students. This demonstrates how significant our program is and the impact we can have as a campus," Waryoba said. "It shows how well our students do, how well they excel and how much experience they get. People from across the PM industry hear of these things, and read about them, and see that our students are worth hiring."

For Carrier, that rings true. He is already considering multiple job offers, so that he will be able to enter the workforce immediately after graduating in May. He also is considering graduate school, and may one day pursue his doctorate in engineering, with aspirations to excel in a career in research and development in manufacturing and powder metal.